After three years of debate, and two rounds of conflicting model policy direction from Richmond, members of the Muslim and Hindu community are joining the opposition to the School Division’s policy on the rights of transgender and gender expansive students and calling for changes that would allow for separate bathroom and locker room spaces for girls and boys.
Led by Loudoun County resident and father of two Ommair Butt, who spoke for the first time at a School Board committee meeting Feb. 15 about how Policy 8040 effects his communities “conservative values and faith.”
Butt apologized at that meeting for not being part of the conversation sooner, but he said Muslim girls need a separate space for privacy and to adjust their hijab.
The School Board’s Student Services Committee voted that night to ask the superintendent to bring in an objective third-party facilitator to hold focus groups with the community to discuss possible changes to the division’s transgender student policy.
Butt said he left the Feb. 15 meeting feeling like the committee had used a stall tactic but said he was motivated to spread awareness within his Muslim community and around the county.
He said he was motivated by concern for his four-year-old daughter and an eight-year-old son.
His message to parents: “Don’t wait until you have your own skin in the game; it’s for our community.”
He said the new School Board members made promises to faith and community groups during campaigns. He said now it’s time for the board to listen to what those groups have to say.
“You made promises and went to a variety of faith groups and community and did a lot of outreach,” he said in an interview. “OK, this is a concern that affects the majority of parents and students, not a minority. Please help us resolve it. We aren’t asking for the stars and moon. We just want something changed when it comes to this policy that addresses the majority of the students, not just one to two percent.”
According to the divisions data tracking dashboard, dashboards.lcps.org, of the 82,553 students enrolled, 65 students identified as non-binary—approximately 0.1%—with 51.3% identifying as male and 48.6% identifying as female. The dashboard numbers were last updated Feb. 29.
A woman holds a sign during the Feb. 27 School Board meeting where the majority of speakers raised concerns about Policy 8040 and how it affects the privacy of female students.
Division spokesperson Dan Adams said in an email it was the only data the division used to track this information.
Butt drove from New York last Tuesday to give his one-minute speech to the School Board during public comment after his mother had a stroke and had to be hospitalized. He said he continued to reach out to the community while he was away because he felt strongly about it.
During last week’s meeting several speakers, including female students, shared their concerns over privacy and modesty.
“In my religion and personal belief there are modest precautions … such as keeping my hijab and keeping my distance from guys. By merging the bathroom and locker rooms we will be very uncomfortable to change our outfits in front of the other genders. In sports, it will be a violation of keeping our distance because sports are physical and that initiates contact between the genders,” eighth grader Eshaal Zehra said. “We support the LGBTQ+ community in any way we can, however, it should not cost us our core values. Instead of merging everyone we could create separate accommodations for the LGBTQ+ community that doesn’t make the majority of us feel uncomfortable.”
Young girls and women hold signs in support of restoring sex designated bathrooms, locker rooms and showers. The Muslim and Hindu community addressed the School Board on Feb. 27 in favor of making changes to the current policy.
Ifra Imran also spoke about the need for privacy and said her friend was moving out of the county because of Policy 8040.
“While the School Board is concerned about the rights of less than 1% of the students, and wants to implement this policy they should also respect the views of the remaining more than 99% of students and their parents who don’t want to implement this policy,” Noman Akhtar, a father of two daughters, said.
Of the 50 people signed up to speak during last week’s School Board meeting, around 30 addressed Policy 8040, including supporters.
Sean Murphy said the policy has protected queer students without hurting anyone and called on the board to continue to protect transgender and gender nonconforming students.
“Last fall, Loudoun elected a pro-LGBTQ+ majority to protect 8040. We the people spoke loudly and clearly. Now we ask you to please do what we elected you to do, to continue to protect our transgender and gender non-conforming students and vote down these model policies,” Murphy said.
Butt said he’s not trying to remove protections or accommodations for anyone, rather it’s about protecting the rights of all of the students, not just a few.
“I firmly believe every student should have access to the accommodations they need to thrive academically and socially, but I also believe those accommodations should be implemented in a manner that does not infringe on the rights and comfort of the majority of the other students,” he said. “I fully support the students’ rights to express their religious beliefs and identify also recognizing the importance of making a fair and inclusive environment for all students.”
He said as he spoke in different mosques about the issue, he was met with a lot of shock and surprise from parents who didn’t know about Policy 8040 or what it meant for their children.
“These girls are afraid of sharing with their parents what they are feeling when they use the restroom,” he said. “This affects all parents. It’s not a religious issue. It’s everyday parents and people with traditional family values that are concerned with this. If you are a parent, you should know about this policy.”
He thinks the policy should be broken into two parts—one that addresses the bathrooms and locker rooms and another that addresses sports. He suggests there should be separate bathrooms for transgender students so they feel comfortable and safe and that there should be separate sports teams as well to make the playing field equal.
Attendees at the Feb. 27 School Board meeting hold signs stating they want the current policy on transgender student rights to change to reflect the needs of the majority students.
Several School Board members said they weren’t surprised to hear from so many speakers from the Muslim and Hindu community on Policy 8040, since it was the first full meeting since the committee opted to hold focus groups.
Lauren Shernoff (Leesburg) said the issue has multiple layers—biology, religious, transgender, safety and Title IX—on top of it becoming a political issue.
She said since there is a new board people might be thinking it’s their time to come forward.
“The old board took a hard line on 8040 and decided they weren’t going to budge,” she said. “To me 8040 was done in haste. I heard that from [former Ashburn District School Board member Harris] Mahedavi in his closing remarks. Things were done in haste and he regrets that. I don’t want to make a decision in haste. That is not how I operate and that is not good leadership.”
She said there aren’t a lot of details about Chair Melinda Mansfield’s (Dulles) proposal to hold focus groups facilitated by a third-party organization, but she said she hopes it will involve hearing everyone’s opinion, be a safe place for students, and that School Board members still have a vote in the policy changes.
“As an elected official I would like this to be opened up. The worst case scenario is 8040 is left as is. Yes, it’s hard and it’s going to be messy and we are going to have to dig deep and do hard work but that is what we were elected to do,” she said. “I believe we can get there. I don’t want it to just be this or that right now, I don’t think that is a win for the students or the community.”
Kari LaBell (Catoctin), a member of the Student Services Committee, said she wants to hear constructive strategies from constituents.
She said the draft policy that was made public on Feb. 15 was created by the staff under the direction of the previous board and was not the current board’s ideas.
She said hearing from all parties involved would help the committee come up with a framework for a policy that ensures the rights, privacy and dignity of all students.
“But we can’t take a stand that it is my way or no way, because that’s not good for the community, and it’s not good for the kids,” she said.
Student Services Committee Chair Anne Donohue (At-large) said she doesn’t feel like they are delaying a decision on 8040 and said it’s not a “one or the other” decision where 8040 needs to be repealed or leave it as is. She believes by listening to everyone and finding a compromise they can create a policy that protects all students.
“A lot of people in the community have said 8040 was passed in haste and there was not enough reflection, now they say we are kicking it down the road. What we are trying to do is take our time to have conversations that allegedly weren’t done in 2021,” she said.
She said her goal is to create the best policy for the students.
The committee has been tasked with finding a way to incorporate the Youngkin administration’s 2023 model polices into the division’s current policy on transgender student rights.
Donohue said she believes the next steps are in the hands of the superintendent to select a third-party organization to facilitate a broader community discussion.
Loudoun Now reached out to all nine School Board members for comment.
The division adopted Policy 8040 Aug. 11, 2021, to be in compliance with the model policies issued by the Northam administration that centered around rights of transgender and gender expansive students. Under the policy, students are entitled to have access to restrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their gender identity. Youngkin’s model policies have updated guidance on bathrooms and parental rights including what some critics say are rolled back protections for transgender students.
